George f



(No Model.)-

r l G. 1",. SARGENT.

HEAD REST.

No. 534,582. Patented Feb. 19, 1895.

' INVENTOR:

W I WITNESES: 074 f (72 0m 7 v @w m Attorney.

UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE.

GEORGE F. SARGENT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y,

HEAD-REST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 534.582, dated February 19, 1895. Application filed January 11,1894. Serial No. 496,466- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. SARGENT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Head-Rests for Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to adjustable headrests for chairs, and the object of the invention is, in the main, to provide a head-rest which may be set or adjusted to adapt it'to the header neck of the sitting occupant of the chair whether he be tall or short, and to provide means whereby the rest may be readily adjusted and then looked in the position set. To this end I construct a head-rest which has an eccentric, or irregular contour when seen in cross-section, and I mount this headrest horizontally in and between the standards or rails of the chair-back on pivots at its ends, so that by axial rotation about said pivots the protuberant portion of the rest, which supports the head of the occupant of the chair, will be shifted up or down with respect to the seat of the chair. I also construct a locking device whereby an endwise movement of the head-rest in one direction serves to unlock it and a similar movement in the other direction serves to lock it against rotation.

The head-rest may be applied to any chair having an ordinary high back, and in the accompanying drawings I have shown it applied to a reclining chair.

In the drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of the invention, Figure 1 shows 'a reclining chair provided with one of my improved rests; and Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view showing the headrest set in a different position. Fig. 2 is an end-view of the frame of the head-rest as seen from the rightin Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a front-view of the framework of the rest partly broken away at the ends to illustrate the locking mechanism. Fig. 4 is a section taken in the plane indicated by line an, x, in Fig. 3. This view is substantially an end view of the corebf the head-rest.

I will describe the head-rest as herein illustrated.

The frame of the head-rest comprises first, a core, 1, usually of wood and of the proper length to suit the chair. This core is represented in Fig. 3as broken across at the middle for lack of room to show the whole on the proper scale. On the ends of the core 1, are secured end-pieces, 2, which may also be of wood and cut to the proper contour to suit the desired. form or sectional contour of the head-rest. At one end of the frame (at the right in Fig. 3) is a plate, 3, on which is a journal or spindle, 4, which finds a bearing in the standard or rail, 5, of the chair-back, and on this plate are formed, also; one or more,projecting bolts or detents, 6. Two of such detents are shown in the drawings. At the other end of the frame a spring-recess is formed and a journal, 4, is fixed in the frame at the bottom of this recess. This journal finds a bearing in the standard, 5, of the chair-back at this side. About this journal 4:", is coiled a spring, 7, which abuts at one end against a washer plate, 8, at the bottom of the spring-recess and at the other end against another similar plate set in the rail 5".

On the face of the rail 5, (at the right in Fig. 3) is secured a toothed disk, 9, placed concentric with the journal, 4, and having its teeth so placed (as seen in Fig. 2) as to engage the detents 6. This toothed disk or socket-plate serves, by the intermeshing or gearing of its teeth with the detents, to prevent the rotation of the head-rest; but by pressing the rest endwise over to the other side far enough to cause the detents to clear the teeth on the fixed disk, the head-rest may be rotated as far as desired. The spring 7, yields to the pressure, and when the rest is released the spring will return the rest and cause the detents to again engage the teeth of the disk. There must be room enough between the end of the rest and the rail, as seen at the left in Fig. 3, to allow of this movement, and the bearing socket in the rail must also be deep enough to permit the proper play of the journal. I prefer to [ix the journals to the core'of the head-rest as this obviates the necessity of boring through the core as would be necessary if the core rotated about a rod secured at its ends in the rails. j

It is obvious that the detents 6, maybe on the rail 5, and the toothed disk 9, on the frame. This reversion of the parts is too simple to require special illustration.

I am aware that an ordinary bolt has been ICO employed 'to look a rotary head-rest in position when set, and this I do not claim. My object has been, in part, to mount the rest in such a manner that it may be shifted conveniently by the sitter and be unlocked by merely moving the rest endwise in its bearings, and partly, also, to obscure or conceal the securing devices so that they will not mar the appearance of the chair.

The frame of the head-restmay be upholstered or cushioned in the usual manner or in any manner desired. In Figs. 1 and 1 the rest as a whole is indicated by the reference letter R. I have shown a rest with a somewhat kidney-shaped contour in cross-section, but it may have some other similar irregular contour, the object being to so construct it that each axial adjustment will present it in a different manner to the head or neck of the sitter as before stated.

The particular form of the core or cross piece 1, of the headrest frame is not important. It may be a strip of wood of any desired shape in cross-section. The cylindrical form shown is not essential. The cushion portion of the head-rest may be of cane or rattan if preferred; but in any case it must be upholstered or cushioned all around so that any face may be used. Where stationary or non-roiative head-rests of somewhat kidneyshaped contour are used they are not, and do not require to be cushioned at the back or rear face.

I do not broadly claim a rotative head-rest,

nor an adjustable head-rest, as these have 35 both been known before.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The combination'with the standards or rails of a chair-back, of a 'liead-rest of irregular 4o contour mounted on pivots at its ends in the said rails whereby it is rotatable, said rest having also a limited endwise movement in and between the rails, a spring at one end of the head-rest and between it and the rail, a 45 detent 6, and a toothed disk 9, arrangeCLeoncentric with the journal of the head-rest at the end opposite to the spring, said detent and toothed disk being arranged for engage ment and disengagement by the endwise 5o GEORGE F. SARGENT.

Witnesses:

THOMAS W. FoLsoM, PETER A. Ross. 

